[osteoftex]

OK... this seems to be my week from HELL and needing to vent is what is keeping me sane! So... we go out for Halloween at a friend of mine's. They've got a little two year old girl who is quite fiesty and strong willed. Their neighbours have a twelve year old mutt who is a little skittish and shy. We're hanging out and my friends kid starts kicking at the dog and you can see the dog is NOT comfortable and trying to get away, so my first impulse is of course to tell her 'no no.. that's not nice, don't kick the doggie'' and try to redirect her attention. Well, her mum, who is a good friend of mine goes ''oh no.. it's fine'' and the person who owns the dog is like ''oh he won't bite her''.. and I try to explain, well, maybe he won't, but it's not safe to let her think that is ok to do to dogs as the next dog she meets MAY bite her. To me it's just about teaching kids appropriate dog handling. I could not believe that not only was what I was saying totally ignored, ( I swear the eye rolls were almost audible ) the dog owners looked at me like I was a retard and my friend tried to redirect me to dinner! Like seriously, this kid not only has dogs of her own, but in the future, I'm sure she's going to be going to friends houses with dogs as she grows up and some day she may run across a dog that won't tolerate that. I was literally speechless. I can tell you, if that is how she is allowed to treat dogs, she won't be allowed around mine at all. They probably figure since I have pit bulls I'm extra paranoid or something. ''Nice dogs'' will put up with a kid kicking them after all.

[nTDsD0aU]

WTF!!! Sometimes I just do not understand parents. They just think they can let their kid do everything. I see this at the resturant I work at and my sister raises her kid the same way. Grrrr...

[osteoftex]

Ya.. the whole evening was really weird. There was more stuff that was going on that just made me really want to go home. I just kept thinking... I SO do not belong here. Some drunk chick kept bugging me to let her give us a ride to the skytrain and wouldn't drop it and other people there were encouraging it too as it was just ''easier'' than calling a cab. I was like WTF? After her going on and on about how she's ok to drive, I looked right in her face and said, ''Look.. my son's dad DIED in a drinking and driving accident. We DO NOT get in a car with anyone if they have been drinking no matter how little.'' I thought that would shut her up. Nope.

[tousuarshatly]

I have run across this issue with many friends. no matter the circumstance, the dog is supposed to put up with way more than the owner would. If their child kicked them, you will bet they would have put a stop to it. I also think you are right it sets a bad example for the future!

[Txaizdxx]

I would have gone over and said something to the child anyway. If the parents get pissed, you can always leave. Maybe causing a bit of scene would have stuck with the kid.

Now you have me irritated just reading that people are like that! GRRRRRR.

[Grenader]

Lordy! Some people are stupid, and shouldn't have children OR pets! I would have told the kid off anyways, despite the parents being stupid.

[osteoftex]

I would have gone over and said something to the child anyway. If the parents get pissed, you can always leave. Maybe causing a bit of scene would have stuck with the kid.

Now you have me irritated just reading that people are like that! GRRRRRR.

Actually, I think in the whole process, the kid might have been the only one that clued in. She is a REALLY smart little cookie and although she struggled when I kind of picked her up, she didn't go back to doing it which made me feel a little better. Hopefully it will stick with her. Her dad is actually much more like me. He makes a real effort to correct her behaviour but he is quite soft spoken and often gets told to let her be when trying to teach her how to behave. I hope he manages to find his voice towards his wife as I see alot of her bullying behaviour being ignored or laughed at by her mum. It makes me sad for her as she is such a little cutie but she will be the one with life challenges when she grows up because she wasn't taught respect or more accurately, isn't getting consistency between what her dad is trying to do and what her mum lets her get away with which has to be confusing for her and really only adds to her acting up. She's going to be a handful if they don't get on the same page.

[Txaizdxx]

Actually, I think in the whole process, the kid might have been the only one that clued in. She is a REALLY smart little cookie and although she struggled when I kind of picked her up, she didn't go back to doing it which made me feel a little better. Hopefully it will stick with her. Her dad is actually much more like me. He makes a real effort to correct her behaviour but he is quite soft spoken and often gets told to let her be when trying to teach her how to behave. I hope he manages to find his voice towards his wife as I see alot of her bullying behaviour being ignored or laughed at by her mum. It makes me sad for her as she is such a little cutie but she will be the one with life challenges when she grows up because she wasn't taught respect or more accurately, isn't getting consistency between what her dad is trying to do and what her mum lets her get away with which has to be confusing for her and really only adds to her acting up. She's going to be a handful if they don't get on the same page.

I have a friend who is doing a bang-up job with her son. I just have to avoid any interaction with her when her kid is around, because it just drives me nuts. Plus, I don't like my son around hers. We are kinda anti-gang and pimpin' over here.

It's hard when you see a child that has a lot of potential but is most likely going to fail in life due to lack of parental responsibility.

[spoddersedpn]

Sorry, but if I saw this, I wouldn't care if the parents where there or not. That kid would of got a little education in how to treat animals from me.

[osteoftex]

Ya.. it's been really tricky for us finding kids to socialize with. Both my kids are homeschooled so I make a concious effort to find opportunities for them to interact with other kids but sometimes it just winds up being a crappy experience although even that in itself is a learning experience. This whole day was a bit much though. I found out later that her kid was already showing signs of a cold that morning and she KNOWS that it's best for Raven not to be around anyone sick. While we were there, her kid started snotting, coughing and sneezing and she didn't even bother to tell me she was doing it before we got there which totally surprised me since the week before, we were going to go over for pumpkin carving and she called to say she thought her husband was getting a cold so we better not come. I think she just really wanted us there so didn't want to say anything as we were all really looking forward to it especially after missing the pumpkin carving. We wind up missing out on alot because of this, but I don't think people really have a good grasp of what Raven getting sick means to the household. Everytime she gets sick, that is permanent lung damage that just progressively makes her weaker, along with a torturous hospital stay with traumatizing tests and procedures, the large expense of just being there as well as trying to find care for the animals while were are gone. As frustrating as it is missing out, the alternative is just not worth it. This whole weekend really threw me off. I've known this girl for almost 15 years and it really bummed me out that she'd knowingly expose Raven a potential illness. We would have been upset to miss it, but we very easily could have trick or treated in our neighbourhood. Hopefully all the supplements I have her dosed up on and all the healthy food can ward off this sickness everyone seems to be getting.

[Zebrabitch]

how horrible....my bil told his 4 year old that when Bella comes up to her at the front door (his daughter is a bit skittish around dogs,) that the acceptable course of action is to give her a kick.i almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor...when i explained that that was a horrible idea he did clue in though.i told him wow she could easily loose her leg doing that.Bella might take it but there are many dogs that wont.

shoot Zoe,i would love to take the kids over and hang out with you guys more,but honestly i am so paranoid about it.if i exposed Raven to something i would feel like such a shit.ive had to cancel before because of illness,and i wouldnt hesitate to do it again.yeah the kids(and i) are disappointed but come on!! sending that poor little monkey back to the hospital is so much worse than a little bit of disapointment.how selfish can you be?

[xtc2d6u8]

What the hell is it with parents nowadays? I don't have kids so I know I shouldn't judge, but why are people so afraid to say no and discipline children?

If I kicked a dog my parents would have knocked me upside my head, I can't imagine that girl's mother saying "It's fine".

What's going to happen is that little girl is going to think it's okay to kick dogs, and she'll go ahead and do it to a doggie who isn't so nice and the end result will be a nasty bite. It just amazes me how much stupidity and lack of common sense there is in this world.

[Cemeuncex]

That really pisses me off. First, for telling the child that it's ok to kick the dog and then for not telling you that the child is sick. When my daughter was younger she used to get one ear infection after another or upper respiratory infections. I always made sure that if someone was visiting they knew that she was sick and I always demanded that they tell me if someone at their house was sick that way I had the option of visiting or not.

[SHaEFU0i]

Personally, I would have jumped all over this parent and told her "no, its not fine!" But that's just me. I have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to people and their kids and pets.
At my part-time job I work with a gal that has a 3 year old girl and another on the way. We barely speak to each other because I've had yelling matches with her over how she treats pets she gets for her daughter and how she allows her daughter to behave with them. It goes nowhere. You just can't fix stupid.
People like this are exactly why animals are in such big trouble, abused, neglected, etc.

[erroxiainsona]

aw Zoe, you need a hug from Ellena

[XarokLasa]

omg poor zoe, I don't know how I woulda bit my tongue in that situation! Just last year with one of my foster dogs a couple little kids were running around the petstore while the mom was buying them a hamster. They came up to my dog and started crawling all over her and I was telling the kids "No No, don't walk up to strange dogs like that" The mom gave me and evil look and I just walked away didn't want trouble, then the kids come back to my foster and started doing it again the dog grunted and we were trying to walk away and one of the kids hit the dog on her back/butt area. The mom came over giggly and was like "Oh sorry about that" I was just like oh hell no I couldn't bite my tongue I straight up told her "WHAT IF THIS DOG HATED KIDS AND BIT YOU CHILD BECAUSE OF THAT?!!!" she just paused stunned and said "well if that was the case the dog shouldnt be in a public setting" I wanted to slap her so bad LOL I just said breifly "Keep your kids undercontrol and teach them respect about animals so it doesn't happen, Im sure your one to sue someone because of your lack of responsibility" She just said smugly "Yup" I talked to the manager breifly then left the store I dont think ive ever been so p/o.

[osteoftex]

I don't know what ticks me off more, the kid kicking the dog, or the drunk idiot thinking it's ok to drive after drinking!!! People make me so mad!!!

[beethyday]

I would have told her she needed to leash them. Maybe a muzzle too.

[tousuarshatly]

I would have told her she needed to leash them. Maybe a muzzle too.

The dog or the kids.

[osteoftex]

Ya... I don't know what's wrong with people. It seems like everyone is loosing their mind. Even Raven's dad showed up here the other day on some psycho rampage bitchin' at me out of the blue and then he tells me he's so sick he even has the runs! I bloody freaked. If anyone should know better it should be him. In fact he had been staying away because he was sick and then he barges into my house with his cooties! I don't know what's going on. Maybe they dropped crack in the water supply or something. And you know the day this little girl gets bit by a dog, everyone will be condemning the dog, but meanwhile, the sad reality will be she probably deserved it.

And now, Daemon's complaining of a sore throat.

I do need an Ellena hug.